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Virginia Libraries

2002 VLA Conference

Session Reports

General Opening Session

The 2002 Virginia Library Association
Conference, entitled
"A Community of Partners,"
was held at the Williamsburg
Marriott from October 16-18.
The conference theme was
particularly appropriate as
we learned the extent of
Governor Mark Warner's
recommendations to meet
the state's budget shortfall.
Iza Ciesznski, VLA President,
called the meeting to order.

VLA Awards were presented
to those who had made significant
contributions to libraries.
Anne Hailey accepted
the George Mason Award on
behalf of the Honorable John
H. Chichester. The Friends
of the Washington County
Public Library received the Friends
of the Library Award, and the VLA
Volunteer Management Award was
presented to Robert McGraw for
his support of the Williamsburg
Regional Library. Carolyn Tate
received the 2002 Honorary Life
Membership for her "continued
enthusiasm and dedication to the
Virginia Library Association especially
in her efforts to recognize
the worth of the paraprofessional
within the library structure."

The Scholarship Committee
also announced this year's scholarship
recipients. Tammy Hines and
George Oberle III received the VLA
Scholarships, and Ophelia Payne
received the Clara Stanley VLAPF
Scholarship.

Sara Paretsky, author of the V. I.
Warshawski novels, was the keynote
speaker for the opening
session. During her remarks,
Ms. Paretsky extolled the
pleasures of the written word
and the power of books. She
noted that Petunia the Goose
was the first book of influence
in her life and that at
age 11 she enjoyed reading
the American Girl series.
Establishing her career as an
author was a challenge and
she noted that it took her
agent a year to find a publisher
for her first book. She
stated that the character of
V. I. Warshawski was created
to give women a voice in a
traditionally male work environment.
She credits librarians
for launching her career
by purchasing her books for
their collections.

Ms. Paretsky's remarks focused
on the power of the written word
and our freedom to read and to
express our ideas. In light of the
events of 9/11 and the passage of
the Patriot Act, she encouraged us
to be vigilant guardians of our constitutional
freedoms, particularly
our First and Fourth Amendment
rights. She noted that the Patriot
Act is wide ranging and that its full
impact will not be understood until
specific cases are challenged in the
courts. She noted that the Patriot
Act is a "chill wind blowing
through the country" and that
librarians serve as "a windbreak"
as we protect the privacy of our
patrons. Ms Paretsky discussed
several authors whose works had
been challenged, and she lauded
the American Library Association's
efforts to keep the public
informed through its Banned
Book program.

The power of Ms Paretsky's remarks
is reflected in the last sentence
of her speech: "It is my
only hope, that against those
forces which seek to silence
us, to rob us of our voices and
our precious freedoms, my
words, Sappho's words,
the Constitution's
words, all these words,
which are only breath,
will not only endure, but
triumph."

-Caryl Gray, Virginia Tech

Everytime You Blink
There's a Broken Link-
What Do You Do?

John Buelow, Electronic Resources
Librarian at Virginia Tech, Tonia
Graves, Electronic Resources
Cataloger, and Charles Hillen,
Lead Cataloger from Old Dominion
University, led a panel discussion
concerning how libraries
locate and maintain broken links
for online resources, including
government documents. Mr.
Buelow discussed how to
evaluate and choose a linkchecking
program that meets
your individual institution's
needs. Ms. Graves and Mr.
Hillen discussed how to
fix broken links in your
online catalog, once they
have been identified, and
addressed related cataloging
issues, such as format changes,
title changes, and overall changes
in workflow when handling electronic
resources.

Mr. Buelow indicated
that the fastest checker
can take less than an hour,
but the slowest can take as
long as 13 hours tying
up valuable resources. He
also stressed that there is
generally a standard error
rate of 20%.

Buelow added that there
are a variety of products
available, however many
of them come and go from
the market quickly. He
stressed that link checkers
need to be kept up-to-date
and noted that doing that
can be a problem if you
use a checker that is part
of your integrated library
system.

He stressed that you
should choose a checker
that keeps track of a system
record number associated
with each URL.
Rechecking URLs at least
three times is recommended, and it
is important to try to find a checker
that sorts so that errors, redirects,
and timeouts can be rechecked
separately. He also recommended
comparing your link checker
against another product at least
once a year to make certain results
are valid.

Graves and Hillen focused on
how to fix broken links once they
have been identified. They reminded
us of some commonsense
checks, like spelling errors, unnecessary
periods at the end of URLs,
domain and format extensions,
and, since temporary delays and
glitches with Web sites are a common
problem, double-checking a
URL.

While fixing the broken link is
the primary goal, other cataloging
concerns may arise. Some of these
include handling title and format
changes. When new electronic
publications are issued, records
may need to reflect both online
and print or microfiche holdings
so that users have a bridge between
the past and current materials.
These types of situations may affect
serials cataloging choices. The
speakers concluded by encouraging
us to assess how the workflow
needs to change to incorporate
these new and evolving duties.

Overall, an informative session on
new challenges in a virtual world.

-Janet Justis, Old Dominion
University

Building a Successful Information
Literacy Infrastructure on
the Foundation of Librarianfaculty
Collaboration

Christine Black (Business Librarian),
Sarah Crest (User Instruction
Librarian), and Mary Volland (Head
of Reference Services) from Towson
University described the importance
of strong, librarian-faculty
collaboration in the development
of a 3-credit, required course, teaching
information literacy skills. The
discipline-based, general-education
course Using Information Effectively
(UIE) and other customized
courses enable students to locate,
access, manage, evaluate, and communicate
information
effectively. Their study
began with faculty focus
groups in which questions
about information
literacy, UIE support,
and librarian-faculty
collaboration were discussed.
A third party
facilitated and recorded
the meetings, where
meals were provided.
It was found that the
majority of information
literacy support came
from the library, and all
the UIE objectives, from
accessing information
to citing sources correctly,
were important
for faculty. The librarianfaculty
collaboration resulted
in the inclusion of
librarians in syllabi, invitation
of librarians to
student presentations, creation of a
library catalog, databases, and mass
media modules relevant to classes,
and development of a module to
address plagiarism. Changes based
on the results of these focus groups
included: 1) meetings with librarians
and faculty to review course
contents, UIE learning objectives,
assignments, links to objectives
and to library instruction on specific
assignments; 2) development of
customized exercises for classroom
learning; 3) use of technology to
enhance learning; 4) customized
design of Web pages for specific
classes; and 5) development of an
"Intellectual Property" module.
Librarians at Towson maintain
contact with faculty - in person
for initial contacts and complex
discussions, in print for detailed
information via letters, flyers, or
invitations, by telephone to discuss
new ideas and brief topics,
and online via e-mail, Web forms,
discussion boards, and course software
(for routine information). As a
result of collaboration with faculty,
the librarians developed a survey
instrument for all UIE faculty and
plan to publish their findings.

-Pat Howe, Longwood University

Libraries, Links and Liabilities

The essence of the Web is its ability
to link, argued Sam Clay, library director
of the Fairfax County Public
Library, in his presentation on how
to navigate the murky, legal waters
of Internet linking. As the courts
continue to catch up with technology,
the right to link copyright and
trademark infringement and even
domain names has faced judicial
challenges. Clay explored several
issues, including the constitutional
concept known as "public forum
doctrine," which resulted in Fairfax
County attorneys drafting a restrictive
Web-linking policy for the
county's Web site. He also touched
on cybersquatting, copyright and
trademark issues, and deep linking
and ended by offering some suggestions
for Web linking policies that
might minimize liability issues.

Clay related his experience of the
Fairfax County attorneys' proposal
that the county link only to those
entities that are "… providing county
government services and programs."
The attorneys cited a U.S.
Court of Appeals of the Sixth Court,
ruling in 2000 in a case concerning
Cookesville, Tennessee's management
of its city Web site. The court
ruled the city was within its rights
when it told the publisher of an
alternative newspaper he could not
place a link on the city's Internet
site. The court also ruled that the
city's site was not a "public forum,"
as the publisher had argued. While
the legal issues were complex, Clay
explained, the problem with the
decision was that it gave the green
light to attorneys in Fairfax County
to restrict links to a jurisdiction's
site. The library's legal staff needed
to be educated on the informational
function of a library's Internet site.

Clay discussed other issues, including
an instance of cybersquatting
in which an individual bought
two domain names similar to the
Fairfax County Public Library
site's URL, which showed graphic
anti-abortion images when an individual
linked to them. He reviewed
copyright and trademark infringement
issues and recent court cases,
including a closely watched case in
Denmark that ruled against deep
linking. Deep linking is the practice
of bypassing a Web site's home
page to go to a specific piece of information.

To navigate these and other
linking-liability issues, Clay offered
the following suggestions: (1) stay
informed about copyright problems;
(2) exercise special caution
when linking to sites with lots of
banners; (3) be aware that some
sites contain unauthorized copies;
(4) when creating links, indicate
the site owner and his/her affiliation
in an annotation to the link.
Display the site's URL next to the
link's title; (5) if using frames, make
an extra effort to identify ownership; (6) check whether the linked
site has special requirements, such
as obtaining permission to link or
even purchasing a license; (7) make
an extra effort to find a page with
"terms and conditions," although
the pages might also have different
titles; (8) always ask for permission
when extensively using someone's
Web site; (9) write a disclaimer; and
(10) if you receive an infringement
notice, delete the link immediately,
write an apology, and if the link is
valuable, try to negotiate using it.

Libraries have been linking
since before the Web existed, Clay
explained. A card-catalog index is
nothing more than a link. In closing,
he encouraged his audience to
be vigilant educators to help keep
libraries free to link to whatever
sites best serve their informational
missions.

-Pat Bangs, Fairfax County
Public Library

A Day in the Life of a
Male Librarian

Bob Harrison, Branch Manager at
the Horace C. Downing Branch
Library in Norfolk, Virginia, led the
discussion session on librarianship
from the perspective of the male
librarian. The objectives for the discussion
were to determine if males
experience discrimination from
their female colleagues, to discuss
what deters males from entering
the profession, discuss survey results,
and how we can improve the
bonds between male and female
colleagues.

With the use of a PowerPoint
presentation, Bob showed the results
of two surveys. The first was
done in 1981. It was found that
fewer females became library directors,
and that 83% of the directors
were male. Females had a lower salary
than their male counterparts,
and libraries with female directors
got lower per capita support
and compensation for beginners
than male directors. A more recent
survey was done where 196
professional and paraprofessionals
from public and academic libraries
completed the questionnaire. Of
the responses submitted, 39 were
from males. The results of this survey
showed that the 39 males were
all under the age of 40, and of the
157 females, 40 were between the
ages of 50 and 60. All had agreed
that librarianship was a femaledominated
profession. The library
profession as a whole was getting
older, and fewer new librarians were
entering the profession. Although
males tend to get directorships,
they do experience discrimination
in subtle ways. But even with fewer
males in librarianship, they get the
advancements.

Following the presentation, Bob
shared the personal experiences he
has had with discrimination. He
said on several occasions when it
came to performing manual tasks,
he had been asked to do them. Audience
participants brought up that
this is not something limited to the
library but is a cultural phenomenon
felt in almost every area of
work. Any time there is a physical
task to be done, the male is typically
asked to do it. The subject of
sexual preference was brought up,
and while some participants said
they had not been questioned,
others mentioned that they had
been stereotyped as homosexual
or less masculine for
working in a female-dominated
environment.

The discussion concluded
with several questions to consider.
How can we correct the
fears and concerns regarding
gender-based work, sexualpreference
assumptions, and
other areas? How can we ensure
a level playing field? How can
we make the library profession
more attractive to both
males and females?

What Librarians
Should Know about
Multimedia Players
Presenter: Candice
Benjes-Small

Based in part on a new book by
the presenter and a co-author, the
material presented was clear and
convincing. There is no one multimedia
player that does it all, and it
pays to be familiar with all of them
in order to assist patrons in their
research and presentations.

Three multimedia players
were described, evaluated, and
demonstrated. Two are very similar
-Quick Time and Microsoft
Windows Media Player. Both have
free versions. Microsoft's multimedia
player comes with Windows XP,
which cannot be uninstalled, and
both require very little RAM (computer
memory). The third multimedia
player, RealOne/RealPlayer,
is the oldest of the three but
requires much more RAM than
the other two. RealOne has an
unfortunate tendency to crash
a system and generally tries to
take over all playing opportunities,
even when relegated to the
background.

Multimedia players are no
longer just for frivolous entertainment
on the Web. There are
many educational videos and research
opportunities, such as the
CNN World Event archive, the
Nobel Prize Museum, NASA
sites, and the Salt Lake City
Olympics site. Many public
and academic libraries
are developing librarytour
videos in multimedia
player format. As
the multimedia players
develop, it is important to
realize that newer computers
and Internet browsers handle
them better because the multimedia
players require faster processors
to run smoothly.

-Amy Boykin, Christopher
Newport University

Under-utilized, Under-
Recognized: Special Collections
as an Educational and
Marketing Tool

The two presenters from the L.
Douglas Wilder Library at Virginia
Union University have found that
exhibits of archival and special collections
are a way to make these
collections more useful and used.
The trick to successful exhibiting
is to make sure that after staring,
the library patron leaves learning
something. Good exhibit spaces
include lots of walking around
room, secure cases and cabinets
for rare materials, and low lighting.
It is important to keep exhibits
simple so as not to overwhelm the
patron with information. Exhibits
can engage learners of all ages, and
may include interactive sections for
adults and/or children. At Virginia
Union, it is not unusual to have
faculty include special collections
in their library assignments.

Collections exhibits can be
cheaply created with rich rewards.
By making sure that the publicrelations
department of the institution
knows about the exhibits,
people coming into the library will
be aware of what there is to see.
Timing of a change in exhibits can
mean everything when it comes
to making sure the new display
is seen. For example, have an
exhibit open the same day as
the institution's open house or
back-to-school event. The
exhibits should spark
curiosity, which
can lead to further
research
or to increased
funding for special
collections.
Exhibits can also be the attraction
that brings new collections to the
library.

On the practical side, exhibiting
special collections can take time
and effort. It is wise to photocopy
special collections items and display
the copies, rather than the
originals. It is recommended that
the originals never leave the library.
Photocopies or scanned digital
copies can be made for patrons
or exhibits. The presentation made
it clear, however, that special collections
do not have to stay out of
sight but can provide opportunites
for outreach.

-Amy Boykin, Christopher
Newport University

Beyond the Board Room:
Trustees and Friends as
Library Advocates

To demonstrate what groups of
citizens can do, an energetic and
dynamic Sally Reed from Friends of
the Library, U.S.A., began her presentation
with the history of community
support for public libraries
across America during the Carnegie
era. Now, more than
100 years later, librarians
need "Friends" and
Trustees to advocate for
libraries in these times
of budget cuts and "The
Patriot Act." Sally outlined different
advocacy campaigns.

The continuous campaign develops
a profile of the importance of
the library. What would happen if
there were no libraries in the community?
It's important to remember
that library supporters are not
necessarily users. Create a "buzz"
about the library with public service
announcements on television
and radio, letters to the editor, oped
pieces, promotional materials,
newsletters, and presentations to
community groups.

The targeted campaign attempts
members. Be aware of your competitors
and those sharing a piece
of the budget. The audience offered
several successful advocacy campaigns
and in the end Sally said,
"Don't let budget cuts meet with
silence. Decry the cuts and send
the message."

-Pat Howe, Longwood University

Closing Session

The closing session began with a
brief business meeting. Janis Augustine
read the minutes from the
2001 annual meeting, and Andrew
Morton presented a brief financial
overview of the association. Cy
Dillon, chair of the nominating
committee, announced the results
of the VLA election:

Iza Cieszynski gave an overview of
the state of the association before
passing the gavel to Morel Fry. Both
Iza and Morel emphasized the importance
of advocacy and the importance
of working together in the
support of libraries in Virginia.

Rick Bragg, award-winning correspondent
for the New York Times
and author of All Over But the
Shoutin', Ava's Man, and Somebody
Told Me, was the closing-session
speaker. He is currently a roving
correspondent based in New Orleans.
Mr. Bragg kept the audience
spellbound with his stories of family
and growing up in Appalachia.
He said a good storyteller listened
and patiently waited for the story
to unfold. One can't force families
to tell their stories. The telling has
to be done on their own time, and
they have to have plenty of time to
come to a consensus. It was not uncommon
for him to hear the beginning
of a family story in August and
the conclusion on Thanksgiving.

Mr. Bragg received the Nieman
Fellowship in 1992 and spent a
year at Harvard. When asked about
his experience at Harvard, he said
it was rich and rewarding, although
he felt like "a hog in a cocktail
dress" at times. The stories that
he shared during his presentation
were peppered with similar images
that brought them to life. Although
they are set in Appalachia, he said
he does not talk about the sadness
in Appalachia because it would
"cause him to weep." There is sadness
in his stories, but he has "tried
not to make them folkloric."

In closing, Rick shared one of his
family's Christmas traditions. Family
members gather on Christmas
Eve to hand out presents and enjoy
chili dogs and 70 varieties of cake.
Now what could be simpler!